Lottery Money Poses Problem in Teachers’ Contract Talks

California Lottery revenue, hailed as a boon for public education, is proving to be a major obstacle in contract negotiations between teachers and school officials in some of San Diego County’s largest school districts.

In San Diego city schools, Poway schools and Chula Vista elementary schools, for example, teachers unions are fighting school boards reluctant to commit large portions of lottery money to long-term salary increases or to hiring more teachers to reduce class sizes.

School officials say it is too early to tell how much lottery money their districts will receive and whether they can count on such amounts in the future. But teachers hope that the lottery revenue will put an end to overcrowded classrooms and low pay.

“The teachers saw the lottery money as being the shot in the arm that would address some of those problems,” said Frank Buress, executive director of South County Teachers United. “Yet we’re finding districts saying ‘We can’t count on that money; we don’t know that it’s going to be there.’ ”

But that is exactly the case, contends Supt. Robert Reeves of the Poway Unified School District: “We don’t know about next year. We don’t know the future.”

In all, 16 of the 43 elementary and secondary school districts in the county are still negotiating contracts with teachers.

The number of unsettled disputes is quite large for this time of year, said California Teachers Assn. bargaining specialist William Harju. Last year at this point, he said, only four districts had not settled.

Statewide, the number of contract settlements is running slightly ahead of last year, but there are no comprehensive statistics kept, according to Richard Odgers, manager of training and bargaining services for the California Teachers Assn.

In the San Diego Unified School District, which has 6,000 teachers and 113,000 students, lottery revenue is a key factor in several of the issues blocking a contract agreement. The San Diego Teachers Assn. wants the lottery money to be used to pay for smaller classes and to establish teacher preparation periods for elementary teachers during the first year of a proposed three-year contract. The teachers also want lottery funds to be spent on guaranteed pay raises for the second and third years of the contract.

San Diego school officials are offering to use lottery money for bonuses and to allow committees at each school to determine how to spend it on reducing class sizes. The district’s position on those matters stems from a Board of Education policy, as recommended by State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig, not to spend lottery money on fixed yearly expenses.

The two sides are also far apart in their predictions of the amount of revenue the lottery will generate. Ann Stombs, the chief negotiator for San Diego Unified, believes it will be $55 per student. Teachers union President Gail Boyle says it will be $93. Statewide, schools are guaranteed 34% of lottery revenue and should receive their first allocations in January.

“Part of the problem with the lottery funding is that districts are concerned with the dependability of that money,” said Ruth Peshkoff, assistant director of employee relations for the district. “They don’t want to make a heavy-duty commitment to recurring costs.”

“It’s great to have that money to reduce class sizes, but if that money dries up, you can’t just absorb 10 new positions,” said Robert J. House, director of human resources at the County Office of Education.

In the Grossmont Union High School District, which has 900 teachers and about 19,000 students, the issue of whether to use lottery money to reduce class sizes was partly responsible for holding up an agreement until last week. There, administrators are gambling that they can pay new teachers’ salaries should there be less lottery money in the future. Teachers were voting Tuesday on the tentative settlement.

Growth Expected

The settlement calls for the district to reduce class sizes by spending about $300,000 in lottery money to hire 13 10th-grade English teachers.

“We are expecting sufficient growth and retirements and resignations of teachers that we feel we can absorb that amount of teachers should something happen to the lottery money,” said Larry Marquand, director of personnel services for the district.

In the Poway Unified School District, which has about 16,800 students, “The first issue is money, the second issue is money and the third issue is money,” Supt. Reeves said. The Poway Federation of Teachers is asking that lottery money be spent on a salary bonus. They also want a 6.19% increase in their salaries and a $300 increase in their fringe benefit package.

In some of the county’s smaller districts, the contract issues are more parochial than how lottery funds should be spent. At Julian High School, the 12-teacher bargaining unit is still negotiating the delivery of union mail and the size of the union bulletin board, said Ken Parker, staff consultant to the California Teachers Assn.

Other small school districts without settlements include Del Mar Elementary, with 44 teachers; Cardiff Elementary, with 31, and Jamul-Las Flores Elementary, with 28.

Bonus Sought

However, even at Dehesa Elementary, the tiniest district still without a settlement, teachers are asking for a share of the lottery money. The Dehesa Teachers Assn., which represents five teachers who instruct 112 children in a single elementary school in the community east of El Cajon, wants some lottery money to be used to pay its members bonuses, on top of an 8% raise, union President Cecelia Lloyd said.

Whether the pay raises ultimately come in the form of bonuses or as guaranteed increases, even the California Teachers Assn. is cautioning teachers and the public not to expect too much from the lottery. According to Odgers, the proceeds of every $100 million in lottery sales will yield only 0.25% of an average district’s revenue.

“It’s nice. It can be useful. But in terms of the total money for education, it’s not that much,” Odgers said. “There are too many people who are getting the idea that lottery money is going to solve the financial problems of education. It’s not going to solve them.”

School Districts Still Negotiating

The following school districts are still negotiating contracts or salary and benefit packages.

District: Number of Teachers Alpine Union: 41 Bonsall Union Elementary: 38 Cajon Valley Union: 494 Cardiff Elementary: 31 Chula Vista City Elementary: 650 Coronado Unified: 120 Dehesa Elementary: 5 Del Mar Union: 44 Jamul-Las Flores Union: 28 Julian Union High School: 18 Mountain Empire Unified: 50 National City: 259 Poway Unified: 625 San Diego Unified: 6,200 San Ysidro Elementary: 146 South Bay Union Elementary: 330 Source: California Teachers Assn.